The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Feb 20, 2011 Janina rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, on-my-shelf, read-in-2011

What did I expect from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms? Honestly, I can’t tell. When I saw the translation of book two in a German bookstore some weeks ago, I simply was drawn in by the blurb on the back of the book. It sounded like a stand-alone – or at least like the first book in a trilogy – so when I went looking for the English version, I was surprised to find out that it was in fact not. Now, the summary of book one didn’t sound as intriguing to me at all, but I figured I would maybe not be...more What did I expect from The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms? Honestly, I can’t tell. When I saw the translation of book two in a German bookstore some weeks ago, I simply was drawn in by the blurb on the back of the book. It sounded like a stand-alone – or at least like the first book in a trilogy – so when I went looking for the English version, I was surprised to find out that it was in fact not. Now, the summary of book one didn’t sound as intriguing to me at all, but I figured I would maybe not be able to enjoy the second instalment in its entirety if I didn’t read it. Let me tell you, the summary does not do this novel justice. It makes it sound pretty average in the field of epic fantasy:

Parent dies under mysterious circumstances? Check.
Heroine is thrust into a completely new and unfamiliar situation? Check.
Heroine is presented with a seemingly impossible challenge? Check.
You don’t know who is to be trusted and who plays fair? Check.
And, most importantly, the summary includes the words political intrigue or power struggles? Check.

But The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is anything but average. It is fresh and original, and surprisingly different. I really don’t want to say too much about the actual plot because I think it’s best to go into this book not really knowing what to expect. I have to admit that some concepts were a bit difficult for me to grasp, to relate to entirely, but nevertheless, I enjoyed this book immensely.

A special trait surely is the narration. The book is told in first person, as a kind of giant flashback with shifts in time every now and then. The style is somehow informal, with Yeine, the main character, addressing the reader directly from time to time. There are hints at what will happen later, dreams and conversation with unknown people thrown in where they don't seem to fit, flashbacks to events some days previous. So yes, I think you can kind of get an idea of what happens in the end, but for me those passages were a little too cryptic to figure out. They are clearly distracting and might leave you more than a little confused – but I think they are meant to be that way.

Even though the full potential is not always realized, this novel is amazingly carved out in both characterisation and world building for a debut. It clearly differs from the We-are-on-an-important-quest-to-rescue-mankind-so-let’s-be-solemn-and-stern kind of books to be found in the genre. It represents more an inner struggle than an epic war fought out on the battlefield, but for me that was just right. I tend to get bored by battles pretty quickly. Also, you won’t find any characters here that are only good or only bad. Mostly, they are refreshingly ambivalent.

Recommended for everyone looking for a different kind of fantasy who is not weirded out by the idea of gods and mortals mingling – in every possible sense ;).
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Sep 11, 2012 mark monday rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantastickal

a pleasingly old-fashioned fantasy - and by old-fashioned, i mean the opposite of the dense, complicated, multiple perspective, incredibly epic mega-fantasies that have had the most popularity over the past couple decades. this is something different. the language is straightforward, for the most part, and certainly beautiful at times. although the mystery is a complicated one, and deals with rather large issues such as the making and unmaking of an entire world, it still feels somehow 'miniatur...more

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Feb 21, 2011 new_user rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: epic-fantasy, racially-diverse

N.K. Jemisin approaches empire in her epic fantasy debut, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Laura Resnick ( In Legend Born ) conceived of conquered Silerians, but few authors discuss the national, political and local effects of imperialism, fearing bored readers and infodumps. Jemisin's subtlety indicates a social awareness, an appreciation for PR vs. reality, biased histories, and mistrust of power.

"Once, like High North, Senm was also a land of barbarians, and the Amn were simply the most successf

...more N.K. Jemisin approaches empire in her epic fantasy debut, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Laura Resnick ( In Legend Born ) conceived of conquered Silerians, but few authors discuss the national, political and local effects of imperialism, fearing bored readers and infodumps. Jemisin's subtlety indicates a social awareness, an appreciation for PR vs. reality, biased histories, and mistrust of power.

"Once, like High North, Senm was also a land of barbarians, and the Amn were simply the most successful of these. After the war they imposed their barbarian ways on the whole world and judged the rest of us by how thoroughly we adopted them...

Amn now rule the world. I'd have enjoyed more focus on these barbarians, many years later, advertising themselves as civilized and superior and inflicting their values on the 100,000 kingdoms. Instead, first-person Kingdoms follows Yeine, reluctant heir to the throne, in palace Sky for two weeks, and sometimes romance overwhelms the rest, but so does cutthroat intrigue-- and I'm okay with that.

Yeine leads Darre, an Amazonian kingdom. She's no stranger to harsh, pragmatic politics, but Sky's schemes are another animal. Yeine's aim? Nothing so simplistic as overthrowing "evil" rulers. She's trying to stay alive. However, while assassination is not unheard of in Jemisin's realistic world, her Amn fight more subtly, surreal in their cruelty. Some readers may have trouble connecting to a tale populated by only gray characters. No one's the white knight, even Yeine.

I enjoyed Yeine's intrigues and the mystery of Sky's history, Jemisin's characterizations, Kingdoms' mythos, but I wasn't convinced of Yeine's romance with a god. Something unequal there?

By turns compassionate, sexay, alien or wrathful, god of night Nahadoth's always angsty. LOL, JK. (Remember Bishop's Black Jewels? Oh, his pain! His pain! Don't you feel his pain? Also similar: the primacy of female characters. It's only obvious in Darre, but Jemisin's male characters are all passive.) He's cool. My friend Ariana compares him to Neil Gaiman's Morpheus character from the Sandman comics with shadows curling from his black hair and cloak.

Also, 5000 pts. for a non-white heroine and a non-Eurocentric setting. Jemisin's fictional patchwork of nations speaks to an East Asian influence of Jemisin-invented cultures and gods -two gods plus kids, with their meddling, jealousies and balance of power.

Readers will like the misunderstood villain/bad boy/underdog, and I liked the theme of popular beliefs vs. reality, but the romance subplot took precedence too much for me. That said, I can't resist a blind hero or heroine, so I'll have to read The Broken Kingdoms ! Kingdoms can be read as a standalone.(less)

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Sep 19, 2012 Merve Özcan rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: immortal, romance, fantasy, fav-men, from-a-ancient-culture, funny, godish, king-queen, magic, science-fiction, translated-to-turkish, favorite-books, send-for-review

http://kitabisevda.blogspot.com/2012/...

Çok güzel bi kitaptı, en kısa zamanda yorumum geliyor. Tabii önce bu hışınla ikinci kitabı okumalıyım. Ayş çıldıracağım. Çok güzeldi.

Edit: 19.09.2012

Kitaba dün gece başlamıştım ve bu sabah bitti. O kadar akıcı, güzel ve eğlenceli ki.

Yüz Bin Krallığa bayıldım! Neden mi?

* Tanrılar: Düşmüşte olsa tanrı tanrıdır. Hem Yeine sürekli onlarla konuşuyor, her konuştuğunda çıldıracak gibi oluyorum. Üstelik tanrılar öyle güçlerini kullanmaktna çekinen cinsten değil, k...more

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Jan 15, 2011 Jon rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Recommended to Jon by: Beyond Reality Feb 2011 Fantasy Selection

Shelves: fiction, fantasy, read-in-my-40s

I flew through this book, faster than I thought I would. Perhaps it was the font size and white spacing; perhaps it was the compelling story. Told in the first person by a backwoods 'barbaric' young woman called to the very center of the world, unbelievably as the heir, by her grandfather. Completely out of her element, but not without heart, courage and brains, Yeine proves equal to the challenges of brutal court politics.

I can't say I enjoyed this story, but I can appreciate the ingenuity of...more

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Jun 14, 2011 Vinaya rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-ought-to-love-but-dont, could-have-been-better, mixed-vibes, not-for-me, fantasy

I think I may have read too much fantasy.

I'm always apprehensive when I read a book everyone loved and can't get worked up about it. I was expecting this book to be radical and innovative and unusual. It wasn't.

You've read this before.
You're too harsh.
This writing style-

**********

Makes no narrative sense.

Seriously, what is it about this book I'm missing? What makes it worthy of being a Hugo and Nebula nominee? The choppy writing style felt weird to me- not because I didn't understand the tran...more

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May 17, 2012 jo mo rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: people wanting to try something fresh & original

Recommended to jo by: Roxane

Shelves: series, 2010, fantasy, tough-heroine, series-i-ll-continue, kick-ass-heroine, reviews, authors-to-watch, abuse, tomboy, 3-stars, immortals, creatures-of-the-night, dark-fantasy, high-fantasy, non-caucasian-character, odd-writing-style, oddities, outsider-underdog-pariah

i found the many bits and pieces of the story intriguing, so no surprise there that it was so many things at once: unsettling, beautiful, dark, gripping, weird, magical & creepy. written in a beautifully refreshing narrative style which emphasized the story (and ultimately its narrator as well), --sometimes easy, often difficult for me to follow--, it is about a girl trying to find a place in the world... in a story centered on (fallen) nobles & all the other people serving those nobles...more

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Apr 09, 2012 Kay rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: the divine cast of hercules & xena

Shelves: fantasy, gods-and-beasts, quite-the-romantic

Dreamy prose and an even dreamier plot.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms refers to the collective world, governed by the god-favored Arameri clan. After the death of the exiled Arameri heir, the head of the Arameri clan names his granddaughter Yeine heir to the entire Hundred Thousand Kingdoms...along with two other Arameri contestants. When Yeine enters Sky, the Arameri castle suspended in the air by an impossibly thin column of rock, she must pit herself against her two deadly competitors while a...more Dreamy prose and an even dreamier plot.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms refers to the collective world, governed by the god-favored Arameri clan. After the death of the exiled Arameri heir, the head of the Arameri clan names his granddaughter Yeine heir to the entire Hundred Thousand Kingdoms...along with two other Arameri contestants. When Yeine enters Sky, the Arameri castle suspended in the air by an impossibly thin column of rock, she must pit herself against her two deadly competitors while also negotiating with ancient, volatile gods that roam the castle halls, imprisoned in their mortal shells.

First off, this is how a book about gods should be written. After a war amongst the three "founding" gods, the one victorious god punished the others by imprisoning them in mortal bodies and binding their existence to the Arameri. These imprisoned gods were made subject to the commands of their Arameri masters, and for the past centuries, the Arameri called upon the gods' awesome power to subjugate their enemies and establish their dominance over the world. In light of this, the author does a fantastic job humanizing the gods while maintaining their otherworldly alienness. The child god Sieh was especially well written. The author elegantly resolves the paradox of an infinitely old god with a child's mindset.

However, perhaps because the focus of the novel was on the myth- and world-building, the plot seemed sluggish. If you're expecting political intrigue or power plays, you'll be disappointed. Perhaps it's because we join at the near end of things, but the two other competitors are already established figures and the other Arameri seem hopelessly docile to their whims.

Also, Yeine does not expectedly overthrow the status quo. Yeine, when we meet her, seems to be placed in an impossible situation. Does she claw her way out through wiles and daring? She tries a little initially, but the answer is a resounding I WISH THAT WERE THE CASE. Yeine is no coward and has a good head on her shoulders, but some of her actions to win over supporters or protect her interests were quite juvenile. Given her lack of preparation, it's understandable, but I wish she took more part in the events around her instead of just watching and having things fall into her lap. Everything just kind of...resolves itself, like a package wrapped in glitzy paper and tied together by a bow, and Yeine is there to pull on the ribbon.

Therefore, I settled on 3 STARS for this book. 5 stars for top-notch creation myth-building and an incredibly refreshing outlook on gods, 2 stars on the static plot and main character, and 2 stars for the writing. The prose wasn't bad...it was quite beautiful at times, actually. But I was not a huge fan of the pseudo stream-of-consciousness style interruptions to the story.

Recommended for fans of fantasy, especially fantasy dealing with the divine, but in my opinion, there is little in the way of character (with the notable exception of Sieh). (less)

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Sep 01, 2010 Dawn rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I am an avid reader of urban fantasy and rarely do I engage in the high fantasy but I am so pleased that I went out a limb to read this book. If you are seeking an epic battle with travels to an exotic land with political drama then I think this book might just be for you.

In short Yeine has just buried her mother and she is summoned by the king, who is also her grandfather to the Sky city. When Yeine is summoned she has no idea why and is really surprised when it turns out that she is to be nam...more I am an avid reader of urban fantasy and rarely do I engage in the high fantasy but I am so pleased that I went out a limb to read this book. If you are seeking an epic battle with travels to an exotic land with political drama then I think this book might just be for you.

In short Yeine has just buried her mother and she is summoned by the king, who is also her grandfather to the Sky city. When Yeine is summoned she has no idea why and is really surprised when it turns out that she is to be named one of his heir. However all that glitters is not gold, she is now in the middle of a power struggle between her two cousins that will end in death for the looser. At the same time Yeine has a lot of questions about who her mother was and her life at Sky. While in Sky city she also meets the cursed gods, finds surprising allies, and is literally fighting for her life.

This book captured me from page one. I found myself sympathizing with so many characters in this book. I loved that the gods where cursed and unhappy about it, often in the story I wondered if they were all mad or just ruthless. I also loved Yeine, and watching her grow in her struggle. She is thrown into a situation by her grandfather who has not cared to speak with her for 20+ years and now he demands her service. Plus she is discriminated because she is not considered beautiful, furthermore she has no real allies and her cousin is bent on destroying her and all that she holds dear including her home country. I love that Yeine is willing to rediscover who she is without pretense.

It was quite clever for Jemisin to tell this tale in first person. As I read I felt like Yeine was talking to me as she tells the story of her younger self at times the story is scattered and then there are moments where Yeine will pause digress and then give you a bit of history as to how an event occurred. As you watch Yeine struggle with her situation and self identity you cannot help but to experience her frustration and joy. The setting is equally fantastic almost all of the scenes take place in the Sky city, and again I think the narration just adds to this experience because you are discovering this world just as she is discovering her world so there is no information overload which sometimes happens in first books. Without giving anything away, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a story about life, love, self-discovery and forgiveness. The book does take you on an emotional rollercoaster and at the end I found myself thankful for the tale. This is N.K. Jemisin first novel and I was very impressed truly a great story with original ideas,

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Jun 02, 2010 ambyr rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: protagonistㅡfemale, characterㅡlgbt, authorㅡfemale, acquiredㅡlibrary, authorㅡpoc, genreㅡfantasyㅡsecondary-world, ownㅡcurrently, acquiredㅡfrom-work, acquiredㅡbought-new, literal-deus-ex-machina

I liked this pretty much exactly as much as I expected. I loved the writing style, poetic without being overburdened, the cultural descriptions, the cosmology, and some of the secondary characters. Sieh, in particular, stole the show for me. Neither Yeine nor Nahadoth did much for me, alas, and the politics never came across as subtle as I think they were supposed to be. But both were well-worth dealing with to have a chance to explore Jemisin's world.

As a non-linear reader (yes, I tend to read...more

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Mar 31, 2010 Lightreads rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, fiction

I read this book using synthetic speech -- Nuance’s Samantha voice (.wav sample file). Not my favorite aural modality – Neospeech’s synthetic* line of voices such as Kate (another .wav) are examples of much better synthetic speech output. There’s also human-voiced audio, of course, and I actually see now that the U.S. National Library Service is considering recording this book (your tax dollars at work, Americans!). But the NLS runs about eighteen months behind on everything, there’s no commerci...more

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Jan 16, 2011 Zoë Marriott rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

N.K. Jemisin's debut fantasy novel is...well, it's something completely different. I've only been this absorbed in, disturbed by and utterly delighted with a book a very few times in my life - I read it in one day and two days later my head is still buzzing with it. And I don't think a single person that I've emailed or spoken to in the past two days has escaped without hearing me rave about and recommend this story.

THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS is an exquisitely written fantasy which harks back...more N.K. Jemisin's debut fantasy novel is...well, it's something completely different. I've only been this absorbed in, disturbed by and utterly delighted with a book a very few times in my life - I read it in one day and two days later my head is still buzzing with it. And I don't think a single person that I've emailed or spoken to in the past two days has escaped without hearing me rave about and recommend this story.

THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS is an exquisitely written fantasy which harks back to ancient works of epic myth in it's scope and subject matter. The cast of characters, both mortal and godly, is profoundly well realised - the kind of characters who are both completely knowable and completely unpredictable, just like real people. The world is stunning; richly textured, nuanced and so original that I wanted to get lost there and not come back for years.

This book does not flinch from darkness, death or pain. The characters who you will love (and you WILL love them) the most are the ones who often do the most awful things, and the author's skill is in making this appalling without ever offering excuses, or detracting from the sense of empathy you feel for them. There are no easy answers to be found in this story, and you'll probably find yourself disturbed at the cunning way that you're tricked into moral ambiguity about the characters actions. One of the things I adored most in the book was the depiction of the captured gods, or 'Enefadah'. So many fantasy novels contain supposedly inhuman characters (immortal or immensely long lived dragons, elves, gods) who, in fact, have no sense of inhumanity at all. They appear as nothing more than humans with a longer sell-by date (for instance, the otherwise excellent work of Tamora Pierce). Other writers make their immortal creatures inscrutible and distant, and thereby preclude any sense of understanding them (the brilliant Lois McMaster Bujold). N.K. Jemisin is the first author who has ever managed to show me a God who was both moral and amoral, human and Godly, terrifying and pitiable, vulnerable and invulnerable. I was enthralled. What an achievement!

If you are looking for typical epic fantasy, complete with heroic heroes, predictable quests, evil overlords and black and white morality, do not read THE HUNDRED THOUSAND KINGDOMS. But if you are prepared for something experimental and new, something lushly romantic, something which plays with gender stereotypes and ideas of heteronormality, and which contains a truly diverse cast (including a protagonist who is a woman of colour, whoo!) then I exhort you to find yourself a copy of this book. And now...I'm off to read it again!

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Sep 18, 2011 Carolyn Crane rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: fantasy lovers

Shelves: fantasy

I really enjoyed this fantasy - I found it quiet, intricate, and gleaming, shiny, in a way. Maybe that's the worldbuilding. The image of place is so innovative and strong.

This is a classic underdog tale, really, of a heroine thrown into a battle she can't win, and her underdog allies, who happen to be enslaved gods. The slow reveal of all aspects of this and the evolution of their alliance was one of the extreme pleasures of this book.

There are also a few quirky narrative gambits I enjoyed, li...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Jay Kristoff rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I thought this was a pretty great fantasy book.

The voice of the protagonist is its greatest strength - you don't feel like you're reading a book, you feel like you're being told a story. Yeine is slightly unreliable, skipping ahead and then finding her way back, interrupting herself when she remembers something important. I can understand why some readers might find this distracting, but it made her feel real to me.

It's quite different to traditional fantasy, the take on the gods is quite new,...more

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Sep 18, 2010 Hirondelle rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: tania ho, escalla

Shelves: fantasy, mary-sue-land

This was interesting, so interesting I am not sure how good it really was. I think the 4 stars rating are more me judging the experience of reading this ( wow, fun!) than the book itself - which is flawed.

This book was not exactly what I thought that it was going to be: big thick multi-volume plots with lots of courtly intrigue and cliffangers and huge multicast families. Like of course A Song of Ice and Fire, and tons of things which came before and after. Apart from ASOIAF I am probably burne...more This was interesting, so interesting I am not sure how good it really was. I think the 4 stars rating are more me judging the experience of reading this ( wow, fun!) than the book itself - which is flawed.

This book was not exactly what I thought that it was going to be: big thick multi-volume plots with lots of courtly intrigue and cliffangers and huge multicast families. Like of course A Song of Ice and Fire, and tons of things which came before and after. Apart from ASOIAF I am probably burned out of the whole subgenre ( and what to call it anyway? high fantasy? epic fantasy? all terms I know seems a bit precious). Oh, the book starts like that, it sounds like that from the blurb, but is not. I think perhaps the closest comparison for me with be with Transformation by Carol Berg, theological intrigue books both. This mixes that (light!) theological intrigue with enough wordly intrigue to keep it grounded, mixed up with a non linear narrative. It is very easy and very fast to read, I practically went through it in one sitting.

But, for me, this is not as good at it could, should have been. While there is MAJOR ambition in the plot, and lots of ideas and twists the story the theology is maybe too simple, too unsubtle, some things too obvious or easy in both the worldly and divine intrigues. I don´t know how to define cheesy but I know it when I see it and that a few plot points and scenes are cheesy, they are!

But still overall, lots of fun and interesting. And I will add different as praise, originality is surely a virtue and this has its own voice to pull at the imagination.

I am now very curious about how the sequel will go. I fear it might be disappointing ( like the sequel to Transformation, Revelation,was). The plot of this is so important, so major, that any sequel might very well feel like a letdown, and more than that, the ahem theological completeness hinted might not very well work with the mystery-romance plot that from the preview chapter seems to be the plot. But I will surely read it, just to see. (P.S - read the sequel and it was not a disappointment. The action was less grand, but it was IMO better written and plotted)(less)

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Jun 16, 2012 April rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, multicultural, own, highly-recommended

In the midst of reading the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin several people asked me how I liked it so far. Y’all this book reminds me of why I love fantasy. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has it all: magic, impossible odds, Gods, privilege, power, intrigue, politics. Yeine, still grieving over her mother’s murder is summoned by the ruler of the hundred thousand kingdoms and head of the elite race of people called Arameri, her grandfather Dekarta, to what is known as Sky, a building that...more

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Oct 28, 2010 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy-hard

This was a commendable first effort, but I cannot bring myself to rate it any higher. In view of all the positive reviews it has been receiving, I just expected more from this story, but, no, it fell completely short of expectations.

The writing itself is certainly readable, but when it comes to portraying emotional turmoils, the author opts for "Tell, Don't Show" too often, so some scenes are filled with rather cringe-worthy descriptions of how a character "feels". The author might have been goi...more This was a commendable first effort, but I cannot bring myself to rate it any higher. In view of all the positive reviews it has been receiving, I just expected more from this story, but, no, it fell completely short of expectations.

The writing itself is certainly readable, but when it comes to portraying emotional turmoils, the author opts for "Tell, Don't Show" too often, so some scenes are filled with rather cringe-worthy descriptions of how a character "feels". The author might have been going for sensual, but because the writing lacks natural lyricism, it ends up seem forced than anything else. The world-building begins somewhat promisingly, but the exploration of that world ends up being more cursory than in-depth. The palace intrigues, also, begin with a promise of complex conflicts, but end up quite shallow, and a lot of the said conflicts are resolved via deus ex machina (literally) than through the strength of the nineteen-year-old protagonist.

Not all of these issues are serious flaws (and I suppose things like world-building might occur in later volumes of this trilogy), so I might have enjoyed the story for what it is had the characters been more fully-realized. The protagonist, Yeine, does start off with lots of potential. She comes across as endearing and has strength of conviction and other right elements to become an interesting heroine, but in the end she comes off as a Mary Sue in all the wrong ways, especially when it comes to her romantic entanglements. The secondary characters were also imbued with attention-grabbing and flashy personalities, but none of them came across as truly genuine. I am sure I've read mangas with better character developments - actually, what with the detailed descriptions of characters' physical attributes, I did feel like I was reading manga in parts.

It's possible I would have enjoyed the story better without the high expectation, but now that I have finished reading it, I simply cannot agree with all the glowing reviews. For years I've been reading as much as I could in this genre, so I know exactly what I want from a fantasy novel, and this, unfortunately, isn't it. Your mileage may vary, of course.(less)

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Aug 17, 2011 Mei-Lu rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

At 3 am this morning a startling thought occurred to me. Even though I was alone in the way that every reader is alone at 3 am in the morning - the house totally dark and silent, my cats curled up tightly (one pressed close against my body, the other sleeping within eyesight but far enough away that my movements don't disturb her) and it occurred to me - how many hundreds, maybe thousands, of people have stayed up until 3 am with this book, unable to put it down? We're like an unseen fraternity,...more At 3 am this morning a startling thought occurred to me. Even though I was alone in the way that every reader is alone at 3 am in the morning - the house totally dark and silent, my cats curled up tightly (one pressed close against my body, the other sleeping within eyesight but far enough away that my movements don't disturb her) and it occurred to me - how many hundreds, maybe thousands, of people have stayed up until 3 am with this book, unable to put it down? We're like an unseen fraternity, we may meet, or sit next to one another on a train, or pass each other on the street and never know it but we are bound by this shared experience. I thought that was really cool. I don't know why I thought of it except for the fact that I wouldn't have picked up this book if not for the excellent reviews on Goodreads and I am so very glad that I did. I loved it!! I'm going to run out to Borders to pick up the next book in the series. Specifically about the book: two thousand years ago there was a Gods' War and it was won by Itempas. He raised his servants, the Arameri, to the most powerful position on the planet (akin to the Roman emperors) and chained his rivals, the other gods, forcing them to slavery with the Arameri, who used them as weapons to enforce peace and their own dictatorship. The heroine, Yeine, is called to court and to her, and everyone else's, surprise, she is named one of three Arameri heirs, who engage in a contest to the death for the throne. She's plunged into the vicious, corrupt politics of the court, forced to interact with the dangerous enslaved gods in her attempt to save her own life and, possibly, find out who killed her mother. It's really a FANTASTIC book. I stayed up until 5 am finishing it. I literally could NOT put it down. Loved it. Loved the world, loved the mythology, loved the gods, loved Yeine. Loved that even though it's a trilogy, the book is clearly meant to be a stand alone story (as the next book is about a different set of stories). I think the last time I loved a series this much was the Chalion books.(less)

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Mar 25, 2011 jD rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 1_library-yes, genre_fantasy, otherworldly_setting, paranormal-political, 2011-read, 2011_5-stars

The is an excellent work of fantasy. Ms. Jemisin weaves a creative concept about imprisoned Gods without leaning on readily available prepackaged mythology. Had I based my decision to read this book on most of the confusing reviews I had read, I would have missed a rare offering of pure genius.

This book accomplishes what few fantasy writers achieve, it's easy to follow the story and understand the world around the characters. As a fan of fantasy, I can work with the complexity of Dune or the sim...more The is an excellent work of fantasy. Ms. Jemisin weaves a creative concept about imprisoned Gods without leaning on readily available prepackaged mythology. Had I based my decision to read this book on most of the confusing reviews I had read, I would have missed a rare offering of pure genius.

This book accomplishes what few fantasy writers achieve, it's easy to follow the story and understand the world around the characters. As a fan of fantasy, I can work with the complexity of Dune or the simplicity of the Princess Bride. I only require that the story suspends my beliefs, draws on my emotions, and stirs my imagination. So I will target this review for people like me who don't want to be overtaxed by the term paper version of what this story is about. There are enough layers and surprises to write one make no mistake about that but wouldn’t it be more fun to just read the book.

Yeine is our heroine. I will only use her name because the names of the other characters imply complexity that is not there. Back to Yeine, she is many things including the daughter of a woman who abdicated her crown for love or something like it. Her mother married a man from a poor barbarian-like people who where considered below nothing. Yeine, their only child is left to rule the tiny poor country after both her parents die. She is a trained warrior and has no direct experience with life at court or a real understanding of what her family actually is. Shortly after her mother dies, her Grandfather summons her to the capital city of Sky. Upon her arrival, we enter the fantasy stage of this book -- it's a unique world indeed. Yeine is looked down on from jump. She is dark-skin, short curly hair, and is shaped like a boy. Those are just a few of the strikes working against her. Her grandfather has made her his heir to the throne. As it turns out, she is not the only heir. She has two cousins who are not going to hand the job to her. Yeine has to survive homicidal cousins, mysteries, lies, and court intrigue as well as gods with their own agenda. There is really no way to speak of the tangled mess she walks into and survives daily without spoilers which would ruin the story. I read some but they were so confusing, I did not lose anything.

The story is told from Yeine's perspective. She is wise and she is observant. She puts pieces together quickly thus the story is constantly unfolding without getting stuck on filler. There is a glossary at the back of the book but I never needed it. Most of the terminology is common -- a tree is a tree, a horse is a horse, and so on. The gods have been imprisoned after losing the God War with their brother, the God of Light or Day as I call him. Jelousy led him to kill his sister (basically the Goddess of Twilight), then yoke his brother, God of Night, to Yeine's family. Her family holds the chains that control these pissed off Gods -- yes, there are several. They use the Gods for all type of nasty stuff and treat them without regard for what would happen if they got free. Yeine is disgusted with her family and sympathetic to the gods. There is a love story here for those who need that element. There is also magic but not detailed and expressive.

So that’s the fifty cent review. There are some hundred dollar ones out there which are much more comprehensive. It’s your call. Avoid spoilers, you really don’t want to read those beforehand.
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Oct 06, 2012 Michael Foley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction-fantasy, fiction-god, fiction-revenge, fiction-hugo-nomination-2011, fiction-nebula-nomination-2011

Very original idea. There was a war in Heaven and the fallen gods have ended up under the thumb of a human family beholden to the victor. As a result, they control the politics of the world and often bend it to their cruel will. In many unique and interesting ways, Jemisin explores the relationships between god and man.

My main issue is with the characters. Far too often they can come across as weakly developed and (at worst) cliched. This is a shame because the framework is so strong and origina...more

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Dec 16, 2010 Mike rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nook, xmas

What sold me on the novel wasn’t the back of the book, or the multitude of good reviews it has received but rather the single opening sentence from Brent Weeks’s (the Night Angel Trilogy, The Black Prism) review of it Goodreads: “What if gods were real…and walked among us…enslaved…and were used as weapons…and were really pissed off about it?” That sounded pretty cool to me. In fact, it reminded a little of Scalzi’s The God Engines; a novella I quite enjoyed.

The plot, at the outset at least, is f...more What sold me on the novel wasn’t the back of the book, or the multitude of good reviews it has received but rather the single opening sentence from Brent Weeks’s (the Night Angel Trilogy, The Black Prism) review of it Goodreads: “What if gods were real…and walked among us…enslaved…and were used as weapons…and were really pissed off about it?” That sounded pretty cool to me. In fact, it reminded a little of Scalzi’s The God Engines; a novella I quite enjoyed.

The plot, at the outset at least, is fairly simple: a young woman, Yeine, is summoned to court by her grandfather who is the current ruler of the titular Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. Yeine, whose mother was exiled and disowned, is the ruler of a distant provincial kingdom and given her mother’s recent death fears some kind of trap. She quickly finds herself drawn into the political machinations in the capital city of Sky where she is forced to compete in a deadly race to take her grandfather’s place. As if scheming family out to destroy her and all she holds dear Yeine must also contend with gods “trapped in tangible vessels and kept under lock and key and magical chain.” Often referred to as Enefadeh they are bound to serve those of Yeine’s bloodline by the Skyfather Bright Itempas when they along with another goddess named Enefa betrayed him. Or so the story goes. All isn’t as it seems and Yeine’s plight and the machinations of these bound gods slowly blossoms over the course of the novel.

Perhaps the thing that first struck me about the novel was the narrative structure Jemisin uses. The novel unfolds as an extended flashback which carefully jumps to the “present” to offer sparse though tantalizing hints as to where the story will eventually end up. At the start of chapter three we get a nice juicy little tidbit, “Should I pause to explain? It is poor storytelling. But I must remember everything remember and remember and remember, to keep a tight grip on it . So many bits of myself have escaped already.” While story has hardly progressed Jemisin has clearly hinted that something dire happens to our protagonist and her fate unfolds in two ways as one reads: through the story she is telling to us, and through the clues Yeine drops through the breaks and asides in that tale. It’s a clever mechanic and one that Jemisin pulls off with finesse somehow managing to impart a sense of intimacy, the notion of hearing a tale from a close friends, and a sense of grand scale given the beings involved over the course of the story.

The intermingling of personal history and the mythic past plays an integral role throughout the course of the story and the battle of human emotions and thoughts against the pull of divine machinations is one the novel’s biggest strength. As the goals of the bound gods are slowly uncovered, and as Yeine remember more of her past so too does she begin to uncover the truths behind the natures and origins of these beings. Of course the how of that adds another carrot for the reader to chase. The Yeine narrating the story obviously knows more than the Yeine she speaks of and there are times over the course of the story where it becomes difficult to tell the difference between truth, conjecture and myth.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is a difficult novel to describe. The publisher’s blurb does little to help offering a description that does little to hint at the complexity and originality of the world that Jemisin has created. Though not the most fast-paced I still found it difficult to put down and I found myself just as drawn to Yeine’s personal struggles in Sky as I was with the divine power struggled between the imprisoned Enefadeh and Itempas. There is no sword slinging here, no spells being tossed about, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms focuses its attentions on deeper magics that tie together the mortal and the divine; namely love, hate and revenge. It is a wonderfully mature novel from a debut author who, given the publication of the next volume in the Inheritence Trilogy (The Broken Kingdoms) and a recent book deal for a duology, looks to to be here to stay. If you’ve yet to give The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms a shot you’re missing out one of the most original new authors to hit the fantasy scene in a long time. (less)

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Jan 29, 2010 N.K. Jemisin added it · (Review from the author) · review of another edition

Just got the ARCs. Reading for typos and errors, and also for the thrill of READING MY BOOK YAY WHOA.

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Jan 06, 2012 Emily DeLisle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was okay. It's a cool world, very anime feeling. But I feel like a lot of the characters were just kind of... empty shells? Like, the book says "This character is like this." and then you never really see the character live up to that description. Nahadoth and Yeine's relationship was really annoying. The book tries to make you think like Nahadoth is this SUPER DANGEROUS GUY but really he just is a mopey wiener. Yeine is way too overly dramatic. I really never understood what her motivations...more

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May 04, 2013 Claudia rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this books to be magical! It offered me so much, and yet refused to spoon feed me everything. It required me to fill in the blanks. Let me explain:

The characters were incredible. They felt real. They did something, and the action was explained through the eyes of the characters. Sometimes, she was right in her assumptions. Sometimes, she was wrong. Since it was written in first person, this made sense. I do not WANT the actions of every character explained to me. I have this magical thin...more

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Jul 16, 2012 Daniel Roy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

Oh my, what a refreshing and original fantasy novel this turned out to be. If you find the book's description somewhat underwhelming, like I did, fear not: this is a compelling and engaging fantasy story, with a unique setting and some crisp plotting and prose.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms takes place in Sky, the world's capital, a city that wields enslaved gods as weapons. This unique relationship between the world's ruling people and their god powers the story throughout, and it's original and...more Oh my, what a refreshing and original fantasy novel this turned out to be. If you find the book's description somewhat underwhelming, like I did, fear not: this is a compelling and engaging fantasy story, with a unique setting and some crisp plotting and prose.

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms takes place in Sky, the world's capital, a city that wields enslaved gods as weapons. This unique relationship between the world's ruling people and their god powers the story throughout, and it's original and interesting.. It's impressive to realize how carefully balanced everything is in this tale. Things here are complex and intricate, in all the right ways.

This story is told in first person narration, which is an unusual choice for a fantasy story. Fortunately, the main character, Yeine, is interesting and complex enough to carry the story. Her narration hesitates and sputters in parts: hers is no perfect recollection, but a painful tale that unfolds at its own pace. Yeine is a really compelling character: she's strong, compassionate, easy to anger, cruel when needed, clever and foolish at once. She's a strong female character the likes of which we see too little in modern fantasy. Instead of being predictably acclimatized to the brutality of her world, she shows compassion many times, and dares to speak up when she sees injustice. She's a powerful figure, and I was sad to let go of her by reading the last page of the book.

I have to admit that given the setting, I initially expected this story to be about political intrigue and machinations for the throne. There is a bit of that, but it's not the heart of the story. The unique relationships between mortals and their enslaved gods, rather, is what takes center stage. A big part of that is a romance arc. I'm not a fan usually, but here the romance is done with enough tension and uncertainty that it didn't bother me. I'm usually a fan of more cold-blooded machinations, but I'm happy for the change of pace, here. There is still plenty of dramatic tension and mystery to be found in Yeine's tale. It's certainly a nice change from the rote sword and sorcery rape of other popular settings.

Looking forward to the sequel!(less)

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Oct 25, 2011 Tiyana White rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, secondary-world, adventure

When a book receives as much hype as The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has, it can go only one of two ways for me: I either love it to death and can appreciate all the praise it's garnered, or I scratch my head an am left with consumer disillusionment. Unfortunately, in this case it turned out to be the latter.

First off, let's mention the great things about this novel because there are several.

The premise: an outcast warrior princess, suddenly named an heiress to the titular kingdoms, is thrust into...more When a book receives as much hype as The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms has, it can go only one of two ways for me: I either love it to death and can appreciate all the praise it's garnered, or I scratch my head an am left with consumer disillusionment. Unfortunately, in this case it turned out to be the latter.

First off, let's mention the great things about this novel because there are several.

The premise: an outcast warrior princess, suddenly named an heiress to the titular kingdoms, is thrust into the perils of court intrigue in a palace where gods are enslaved and kept on leashes. Pretty cool, right? I imagine that's why many of us picked up the novel in the first place (besides the hype).

I loved the experimental presentation of Yeine's narration and the style Jemisin chose. Psychologically it makes sense, once you figure out what's going on in the story. Disorienting at first? Yes, and maybe a bit annoying, but eventually you see the logic behind the madness. (As for those who don't get all the asterisks: I think they were just used to indicate a scene break where extra spacing could not be observed. If you skip a couple lines in the middle of the page, then it's pretty obvious it's meant to be a scene break. However, if it occurs on the last line of the page, in between pages, then you can't really show this...unless you use something like the asterisks. (You may have noticed they only occur at the top of any given page.) Maybe I'm wrong about this, but that's how I interpreted those little lovelies. I didn't find them annoying so much as a functional issue, though maybe a different method could have been used rather than mixing asterisks with extra spaces. For consistency’s sake.)

I also loved Sieh's character. I think he was one of the more developed characters and most believable. His dual childlike-god nature saturated every one of his actions and lines in the story, making his character consistent. Nahadoth’s character was also very well rendered, and I was left with some very strong imagery of him.

Okay, now for the things I thought could have been done better.

The title actually feels misleading once you start getting into the novel. The name implies a grandness of scope setting-wise, and I don’t think this was reflected in the storytelling. We mostly get a view of Sky the city and a couple of other locations, but for the most part it feels very cursory, as far as worldbuilding goes. (And I think that’s where part of my disillusionment comes from.)

Also, the characters don’t feel very developed. I actually stopped believing in Yeine’s character about halfway in, maybe even earlier. Some of the dialogue just doesn’t feel…true. Emotionally. Somewhere along the line the entire story began to feel too artificial and I just stopped caring, to be honest. Even though I was repeatedly told that Yeine was from a barbarian warrior nation dominated by women, I never really believed this. Hard to pull off a warrior-like mentality and actions when they are not sustained consistently throughout the novel—certainly, not an easy thing to accomplish to begin with.

I don’t know, maybe that’s just me. Though, if I don’t believe in the (main) characters, then you’ve pretty much lost me as a reader, sad to say.

A million things have been said about the “god sex”, so I won’t even go there.

Lastly was the ending, which I won’t spoil, though I will say I was disappointed. It felt like a last-minute copout, even if it was planned.

Ultimately, I was underwhelmed, and I think part of this can be attributed to all the hype that went on before I even bought my own copy—not Jemisin’s fault, but there you go. It’s still a successful effort, in some regards, but overall I felt it could have been so much more. I know how much work can go into a novel, though, and I bet Jemisin put a lot of effort into The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The story is good, but I don’t think it’s great. Too much untapped potential left over. (If I could give it 3.5 stars on here, I would.)(less)

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Apr 01, 2012 Geoffrey Dow rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

For the record, my copy of N.K. Jemisin's The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms came courtesy of a contest conducted by the writer Tricia Sullivan, whose novel, Maul, I read a few years back and which which has since stayed with me far more strongly than most. I wish I could say the same about The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.

Stormwinds over a cardboard world:
Nebula-nominated first novel is epic failure

I opened N.K. Jemisin's (now Nebula Award nominated) first novel, The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, having...more

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Feb 17, 2011 CJ - Secret Charm rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: dark-fantasy, familyconflict, out-of-the-ordinary, women-hero

Honestly, I don't know where to begin with this book.

I did not really enjoy the first portion of this book. It was well-written, beautifully written actually, the backdrop of the world was rich and lush but I felt the atmosphere more than I Felt Yeine. I liked her enough but I didn't care about what happened to her. Through the first portion of the story, anyone could have been the narrator and it wouldn't have affected the story.

Until I hit the halfway mark. Things picked up, Yeine became a lot...more Honestly, I don't know where to begin with this book.

I did not really enjoy the first portion of this book. It was well-written, beautifully written actually, the backdrop of the world was rich and lush but I felt the atmosphere more than I Felt Yeine. I liked her enough but I didn't care about what happened to her. Through the first portion of the story, anyone could have been the narrator and it wouldn't have affected the story.

Until I hit the halfway mark. Things picked up, Yeine became a lot more interesting, and maybe that had something to do with the way that her life was beginning to unravel and spin out, and I fell deeper for Sieh and Nahadoth. Not Naha, Nahadoth.

I could tell you what this story was about but that's what the synopsis is for. I could go over every little detail of the book but that's what other reviews are for.

This book carries elements of Egyptian & Greek mythologies with a Middle Eastern hint. There are class issues, family issues, power struggles and loneliness to contend with in a place that looks perfect but like everything is a mask.

That's what this book seems to be about, masks. Hiding away that which is important. Not revealing what is part of you due to ignorance or survival.

It's also about love. Familial, humanitarian, romantic and love of one's home.

"Then warn them, Minister Gemd. The next time I'm forced to do this, two hundred will suffer instead of two. If they press the issue, two thousand. You chose this war, not I. I will not fight fairly."

Yeine is at first intangible and I found her to be inaccessible until she uttered the words above. That was the first time I truly saw her as a person, as a person who was changing into something that she needed to be in order to save what she loved best. To don a different mask than what she was comfortable with.

So while I may not have cared to much about the beginning of the book, the second half was amazing and taken as a whole this book is definitely worth reading. It is not your typical fantasy fare. It doesn't necessarily end the way most fantasies end but it ends like it should and that is all that matters.(less)

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Feb 19, 2011 Stephen rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: ebooks, audiobook, fantasy, unique-magic, 2006-2010, fantasy-gods

4.0 to 4.5 stars. I learned something while I was reading this excellent fantasy story by Ms. Jemisin that may seem obvious to most but still has changed my outlook on fantasy stories going forward. You see, I have always been a big fan of interesting world-building, compelling back stories and histories and unique magic systems and fantasy elements. The problem is that as you read more and more fantasy stories you start to recognize variations on all the well trod (and often trampled) ground an...more 4.0 to 4.5 stars. I learned something while I was reading this excellent fantasy story by Ms. Jemisin that may seem obvious to most but still has changed my outlook on fantasy stories going forward. You see, I have always been a big fan of interesting world-building, compelling back stories and histories and unique magic systems and fantasy elements. The problem is that as you read more and more fantasy stories you start to recognize variations on all the well trod (and often trampled) ground and so it becomes difficult to find something that appears unique and ground-breaking and thus I have been somewhat selective in the fantasy series I have read and if the world/backstory/fantasy elements don’t have something that really catches my eye, I don’t rush it to the top of my reading list.

With that said….here is what this wonderful book made me realize…. turns out I only THOUGHT that cool background elements were THE KEY components that drew me to read fantasy books. It turns out…and here is where everyone can smack me on the back of the head and say DUH!!!... it turns out that compelling characters and evocative writing and dialogue are the ESSENTIAL INGREDIENTS in all of my favorite stories and that the world-building, back stories and fantasy elements are just the SPICE that kick a really good story into the amazing category…BAM!!

As I look at some of my all time favorite fantasy stories, most from very recently, they include: The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie (The Blade Itself, etc.), The Gentlemen Bastards series by Scott Lynch (The Lies of Locke Lamora, etc.) The Hari Michelson/Over World series by Matthew Stover (Heroes Die, etc.), A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin (A Game of Thrones, etc.), The Fionavar Tapestry by Guy Gavriel Kay, American Gods by Neil Gaiman, and The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, and my newest addition, the Troy series by David Gemmell (Troy: Lord of the Silver Bow, etc.). As different as all these stories are, they all have the following in common: (1) unforgettable main and supporting characters that draw you to the story and (2) superb, emotionally evocative writing (some poetic, some gritty, some dark and disturbing, some over the top and larger than life, but all of them MAKE YOU FEEL).

Now don’t get me wrong, each of the series I mentioned above do in fact have superb world-building and back stories and that is probably what led to some of my inner confusion regarding what I was looking for in a great fantasy read. But then I had …..an EPHIPHANY. What would happen if STEPHANIE MEYER took over writing the next First Law trilogy from Joe Abercrombie? What if GRRM was unable to finish a Song of Ice and First and TERRY BROOKS was brought in to complete it? Thoughts like these caused me to lose sleep and drink WAY TOO MUCH. It also made me see pretty clearly (through blood shot eyes) that the writing and the character portrayals are what MAKE great fantasy and everything else is just a bonus. Conversely, a clever idea will not save poor writing in the execution of a story.

Okay, having gone on enough about everything other then the book I am reviewing. how about I start including it in this discussion. Well, I THOUGHT THIS BOOK WAS TERRIFIC for all of the reasons that I explained above make fantasy great for me (see, there is a method to my madness). N.K. Jemisin writes beautifully and I was drawn to the main character Yeine immediately as she was smart, strong willed and self confident. Here is a summary of the back story (which I would hasten to add was excellent and very well done) and plot.

BACK STORY/PLOT SUMMARY: In the beginning were 3 gods (for simplicity you can call them Order, Chaos and Balance). Well, by combining elements of Order and Chaos, Balance created the world as we know it and peopled it was humans as well as lesser gods. Eventually, the siblings squabbled and Order killed Balance and imprisoned Chaos (the how and why, I will leave to you to discover). Anyway, the story opens many years after the “god war” and the City of Sky is home to the Arameri who rule “The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms.” The Arameri were the most devoted servants of the god of Order and so he has given them the power to rule. This power is based on the ability of the Arameri to control and use the imprisoned god of Chaos and the lesser gods to do their bidding. These imprisoned gods (called Enefadah) are fully developed and realized individuals and are the most compelling characters in the story. Well the main character Yeine Darr, whose mother was the chosen successor to rule the Arameri and who instead abdicated and was exiled, is brought back to Sky in order to compete for the role of successor to the current ruler of Arameri (her maternal grandfather) and the intrigue, conspiracies, alliances and betrayals quickly ensue.

So, overall, I found this to be a compelling first novel in what looks to be an intriguing new series. In addition, I will always be thankful to this story for being an effective catalyst in helping me see what it is I am truly looking for in a fantasy story. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!
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Mar 12, 2013 Sophia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, own, sff

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. 90% of this book, I adored. The world is great, the characters are great, and I was completely absorbed in the story. Sieh! You are one of my new all-time favorites! And hey, a book about court politics that didn't make me want to claw my eyes out! (Sometimes authors get way too into all the scheming details *coughFrankHerbert* and I get bored.) I got over the "Nahadoth totally = Morpheus" feeling eventually, after googling around and finding that Jemisin only read Sandman last year but worked o...more 90% of this book, I adored. The world is great, the characters are great, and I was completely absorbed in the story. Sieh! You are one of my new all-time favorites! And hey, a book about court politics that didn't make me want to claw my eyes out! (Sometimes authors get way too into all the scheming details *coughFrankHerbert* and I get bored.) I got over the "Nahadoth totally = Morpheus" feeling eventually, after googling around and finding that Jemisin only read Sandman last year but worked over this story for more than a decade.

However, that leads into part of the 10% of the book I didn't like, which is the romance, which then leads into the rest of the 10% I didn't like, which is the ending. I felt like I'd done the mental work to envision Nahadoth as an immortal being who couldn't possibly feel anything deep or lasting for a mortal, and much as I actually liked Yeine and found her interesting and well-rounded, the romance started verging on Mary Sue territory to me (or at least into Twilight/supernatural romance land, which is nearly as bad). The ending, too, felt like one of those fantasy movie endings where the magical Macguffin somehow fixes everything (the Stone of Earth kills the living and brings the dead back to life, what? and also bestows godhead?), and all the wicked get their just deserts and everyone is happy, lala. I honestly thought for a while that Yeine was going to truly die, but die restoring the exiled gods, which seemed in keeping with the earlier stuff about mortals being of necessity totally insignificant to the gods, and I was OK with that. Turning her into a goddess instead just felt like wish fulfillment.

I also had qualms with Itempas's punishment/road to redemption, which didn't seem to make logical sense to me after all the discussion of how being trapped in flesh made Nahadoth into a psychotic killer, but since the next book involves that I guess I'll have to wait and see how it plays out.

I feel sorry to concentrate on the things I didn't like, since I really did love most of the book, but because it all happened at the end I was left with an unsettled feeling. It's still a four-star rating, but I think I will recommend this with a slight caveat to friends.(less)

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